Ink-cleaning device for flat-bed cylinder printing presses



1 March 20, 192s,

-B.;L HILL INKCLEANING DEVICE FOR FLAT BED CYLINDERPRINTING PRESSES\kiw.

Filed April 26. 1927 Patented Mar. 20, 1928.

noannman a". HILL, or one Mourns,- Iowa.

INK-CLEANING- DEVIGE FOR FLAT-IBEID CYLINDER PRINTING PRESSES.

Application filed April 26, 1927. Serial No. 186,690.

My invention relates to and consists in certain improvements in meansfor readily, quickly and easily removing ink from the fiat beds ofcylinder printing presses of the kind illustrated and described in mycomthe flat bed plate panion application for patent filed November- 22,1926, Serial Number 150,023.

My object is to provide means whereby the ink cleaner may, when at oneend of the flat bed stroke, and when immediately over the ink trough, beswung downwardly into the trough so that the sharp edge scraper at theouter end of the cleaner relatively high up above the part thereof whichis usually covered by ink, and to thereby remove all of the ink from thecleaner blade, and to thereby prevent any of the inkv from said bladedripping upon. during its subsequent movement.

Another object is to provide improved means of simple, durable andinexpensive construction, whereby the operator can read-- ily, quicklyand easily adjust the cleaner blade operating device to its position foroperating as a cleaner or to an inoperative position.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated areattained, as hereinafter fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: V

Figure 1 shows a vertical, central, longitudinal, sectional view of aportion of a flat bed cylinder printing press of ordinaryv construction,having my improvement applied thereto. I I

Figure 2 shows a detail, vertical, sectional view through one portion ofthe flat bed plate with the inktrough connected therewith. The positionshown by solid lines of the ink cleaner is directly over the dischargeend of the trough, and by dotted lines in position just ready to leavethe top of the flat bed plate.

Figure 3- shows an'enlarged, detail, sec.-

tional'view through the central portion of the rod for connecting thecam with the lever that operates the cleaner blade.

Figure 4: shows a detail perspective view 7 illustrating tll6..mB&I1S ZEOI' lengthening or shortening the rod which connects the cam to thecleaner operatinglever. Y

trough may engage the more Figure ,5 shows an enlarged, detail, sec-Figure 6 shows a detail perspective view of a portion of the flat bedplate with'the ink-trough attached thereto.

.Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the referencenumeral 10 to'indicate generally the frame of the printing press.Slidingly mounted upon this frame is a type form vbedllconnected'withthe ink distributing plate 12'. The sliding movement isusually effected in presses of this kind'by means of a rack 13 appliedto the form bed and ink distributing plate,

nating rotary motion is applied in the ordinary manner. At one end ofthe press there is usually provided an ink receptacle 15 in which thereis mountedan ink distributing roller 16, which is rotated during theoperation of the press.

In presses of this kind there is also usually provided an ink carryingro1l17 mounted on a bell crank lever 18 connected to a rod 19 which inturn is reciprocated by a part of the operating mechanism of theprinting press in any ordinary manner not specifically shown herein.This ink carrying roll 17 'moves from position in contact with the roll1 a hard surfaced roller 21 contacting with the twosoft surfaced rollersof the group.

i In presses ofthis kind there is usually supplied aseries of forminkingrollers similar in character and arrangement withthe inkdistributing rollers, the soft surfaced rollers being indicated by thenumeral 22 and the contacting hard surfaced roller by the numeral.23,the soft surfaced rolls being in position to. be engaged at timesby thefiat ink distributing plate, and at other times to transmit the inkthereon to the type forms. a c p All of the parts previously describedare of common construction and of themselves form no'part of my presentinvention, and have been herein illustrated and described and in. meshwith a cog wheel 14 to which an alter.-

to show the manner in which my invention is applied to an ordinary flatbed cylinder printing press.

y improvement comprises a rock shaft 24 mounted in suitable bearings-inthe frame 10 above the ink distributing plate. Fixed to the shaft 24 isan upwardly extendedarm- 25 to which is attached a contractile coilspring 26, which is fixed at its other end'to a part of the frame.Extending downwardly from the shaft 24 is an arm 27 to which there isdetachably fixed a cleaner 28; This cleaner extends transversely acrossthe printing press the full Width of the ink distributin'g plate and ismade of twometal plates with two'rubber strips between them. The

rubber strips project downwardly below the metal plates, and one ispreferably longer than the other, as clearly shown at 29 in Figure 2. Atone" end of the shaft24 is a downwardly extending lever 30, and pivotedto the lower end of the lever 30 is a rod member 31 ed to a second rodmember 32,'whi'ch is provided at its'loweriend with a roller 33. Thisroller is designed to engage a cam 34 fixed to'a shaft 35, mounted inthe frame 10 and rotated by mechanism connected with the ress and notshown.

For the'purpose of adjusting the rods 31 and 32 relative to'each other,and for securing them in adjusted position, I have pro videdthefollowing mechanism:

v Extended through the rod 31 are two bolts 36, which also extendthrough slots 37 in therod member 32, thus permitting the rod member 32to slide longitudinally relative to the rod member 31. Rotativelymounted in the rod member'31 is a shaft 38 provided with acr'ank 39.This crank 39 has a 1101- low handle 10 in which is a. spring operatedslide bolt 41-. Une' end" provided with a knob 42 by which the operatorcan readily grasp theslide bolt" and move it outwardly, The bar 31 hastwo openings 43 designed to receive the end of the slide bolt to therebyhold the crank 39' a half revolution, its spring bolt will then enterthe] corresponding fopening' 4-3, and t huslo'cking the bar in itsadjusted position. Whenithe bar is in one of its adjusted posit'ions,and during the rotation adjustably and slidably connectof the slide boltis 32 longitudinally, and when the crank 39 has moved through of the cam34, the cam will engage the roller 33 and move the bar, thereby causingthe cleaner blade 28 to move from position above the plate 12 when theplate is moved to the right,as shown in Figure 1, and it will cause thecleaner to move downwardly into engagement with the plate- 1 2 whenthelatter is moving toward the left, as shown in Fig Mounted upon the outerend of the plate 12 is an ink' trough ind'i'ez'it'ed generally by thereference numeral 48. Its top is sub st'antiall'y flush with the 130pend of the plate 12, and isfo'rined with an upwardly and inwardlyinclinedrelatively sharp blade 49.

Formed on the cam 34 is" asupplemental cam member 50, the purpose of'which is as plate 1 2" has moved to ward the left, as shown in Figure 1,to

follows: When the sitio'n shown" in Fig-urea, that about the" p is tosay, when the end of the plate is di-" rectly under the cle'aner'2 8,then'thesupplef mental cam member 50 engages thero'ller 33, andswingsthe cleaner downwardly throu h an'arc until the cleanerstandsinsubstantial ly upright position, as shown by solid lines in Figure' 2, at which-time the cleaner blade will be in engagement with theblade 49015 the ink trough; This willica'u'se" the flexible cleanerblade to enter d-eeplyin-tothe trou' h, and theblade49 will then engagetheflexi 1e cleaner blade above the ointwherethunk-iscarried by theflexible 'cleaner'blade- Then during a furthermovement of theplate-1 2tothe left, as shown in Figure 2, the ink wlll all be removed from theflexible cleaner blade and deposited in the trough; Heretofore indevices in which this extra cam- 50 has not been employemdt sometimeshape ns that all of the ink is-not removed from the flexible cleaner'bladeby the blade 49,- and p of the plate 12,- and' its outer end standsspaced from. the" hence during the other movements of the plate 12,- theink will drip upbeat; but; with my improvement and lay-causing theflexible cleaner blade tomovethrough an are down-=- wardly has the"range, this di-fllcul'ty iswholly obviated. I

I claim as my invention z 1. The combination with a" rinting presshaving ink distributing plate,-means form'oving'ths cleanerintoengagement with the fiat'ink distributing plate during the movementof said plate'in onedireotion and elevatin'g' said cleaner out ofengagement withthesaidink distributing plate du'rin' 'the movement ofthe latter in the'op'posite directions; trough shaped ink receptacleattached to one end a flat ink'd ietributing plate and a" series of inkdistributing and form inking" rollers, of a' flexible cleaner above thefiatof the ink distributing plate inipo's'i'tion to receive ink scraped"from the said "plate and of such size asto pe'rmit-the fiexible cleanerto move downwardly into the trough after the end of the ink distributingplate passes the cleaner, the side of the trough opposite from theadjacent edge of the ink distributing plate being formed into a blade toengage the side of the cleaner and remove ink therefrom and discharge itinto the trough,

and means for causing the flexible cleaner to swing downwardly throughan are as it passes through the trough and to approach a substantiallyvertical position when it engages the blade at the side of the troughopposite from the ink distributing plate.

2. The combination with a printing press having a flat ink distributingplate and a series of ink distributing and form inking rollers, of acleaner above the flat ink distributing plate, and means forautomatically moving the cleaner into engagement with the flat inkdistributing plate during the movement of said plate in one directionand elevating said cleaner out of engagement with said ink distributingplate during the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, saidmeans comprising a pivotal support for the cleaner, an arm fixed to thecleaner, a rod pivoted to the arm, a rotatable cam to engage said armand cause it to be moved in unison with the action of the cam, said rodbeing formed of two parts slidingly connected with each other, means forsecuring the rod in either of two positions, one position permitting thecam to operate the rod and the other position holding the rod out ofengagement with the cam, a supplemental cam member connected with saidcam and arranged to engage said roller in such manner as to cause thesaid cleaner to swing downwardly through an are just after the inkdistributing plate has passed beneath the cleaner, a trough fixed to theink distributing plate through which the said cleaner may thus swingduring its operation by the supplemental cam member, and a cleaner bladeat the outer end of the ink distributing trough to engage said cleanerand remove the ink therefrom after the cleaner has passed through thetrough.

3. The combination with a printing press having a fiat ink distributingplate and a series of ink distributing and form inking rollers, of acleaner above the flat ink distributing plate, and means forautomatically moving the cleaner into engagement with the fiat inkdistributing plate during the movement of said plate in one directionand elevating said cleaner out of engagement with said ink distributingplate during the movement of the latter in the opposite direction, saidmeans comprising a pivotal support for the cleaner, an arm fixed to thecleaner, a rod pivoted to the arm, a rotatable cam to engage said armand cause it to be moved in unison with the action of the cam, said rodbeing formed of two parts slidingly connected with each other, and meansfor securing the rod in either of two positions, one position permittingthe cam to operate the rod and the other position holding the rod out ofengagement with the'cam, said means comprising a shaft rotativelymounted in one of the rod members, a lever on the shaft, a handle on thelever, a spring bolt connected with the handle, said rod having openingsto receive the spring bolt in its different positions of movement, acrank on said shaft, a slide bar pivoted to the crank, said other barmember being formedwith a slot in which said slide bar is slidablymounted, for the purposes stated.

Des Moines, Iowa, April 1 1, 1927.

BOARDMAN J. HILL.

